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Freakonomics lived on the New York Times bestseller list for an astonishing two years. Now authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with more iconoclastic insights and observations in SuperFreakonomics-the long awaited follow-up to their New York Times Notable blockbuster. Based on revolutionary research and original studies SuperFreakonomics promises to once again challenge our view of the way the world really works.

Steven D. Levitt is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and a recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded to the most influential economist under the age of forty. He is also a founder of The Greatest Good, a company that applies Freakonomic principles to philanthropy and business. Stephen J. Dubner, a former writer and editor at The New York Times, is the author of Turbulent Souls (Choosing My Religion), Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper, and the children's book The Boy with Two Belly Buttons. He is also the host of Freakonomics Radio.

An Explanatory Note

p. XIII

In which we admit to lying in our previous book.

Introduction: Putting The Freak in Economics

p. 1

In which the global financial meltdown is entirely ignored in favor of more engaging topics.

The perils of walking drunk

The unlikely savior of Indian women

Drowning in horse manure

What is ˘freakonomics,÷ anyway?

Toothless sharks and bloodthirsty elephants

Things you always thought you knew but didn't.

How is a Street Prostitute Like a Department-Store Santa?

p. 19

In which we explore the various costs of being a woman.

Meet LaSheena, a part-time prostitute

One million dead ˘witches÷

The many ways in which females are punished for being born female

Even Radcliffe women pay the price

Title IX creates jobs for women; men take them

1 of every 50 women a prostitute

The booming sex trade in old-time Chicago

A survey like no other

The erosion of prostitute pay

Why did oral sex get so cheap?

Pimps versus Realtors

Why cops love prostitutes

Where did all the schoolteachers go?

What really accounts for the male-female wage gap?

Do men love money the way women love kids?

Can a sex change boost your salary?

Meet Allie, the happy prostitute; why aren't there more women like her?

Why Should Suicide Bombers Buy Life Insurance?

p. 57

In which we discuss compelling aspects of birth and death, though primarily death.

The worst month to have a baby

The natal roulette affects horses too

Why Albert Aab will outshine Albert Zyzmor

The birthdate bulge

Where does talent come from?

Some families produce baseball players; others produce terrorists

Why terrorism is so cheap and easy

The trickle-down effects of September 11

The man who fixes hospitals

Why the newest ERs are already obsolete

How can you tell a good doctor from a bad one?

˘Bitten by a client at work÷

Why you want your ER doc to be a woman

A variety of ways to postpone death

Why is chemotherapy so widely used when it so rarely works?

˘We're still getting our butts kicked by cancer÷

War: not as dangerous as you think?

How to catch a terrorist.

Unbelievable Stories About Apathy and Altruism

p. 97

In which people are revealed to be less good than previously thought, but also less bad.

Why did 38 people watch Kitty Genovese be murdered?

With neighbors like these

What caused the 1960s crime explosion?

How the ACLU encourages crime

Leave it to Beaver: not as innocent as you think

The roots of altruism, pure and impure

Who visits retirement homes?

Natural disasters and slow news days

Economists make like Galileo and hit the lab

The brilliant simplicity of the Dictator game

People are so generous!

Thank goodness for ˘donorcyeles÷

The great Iranian kidney experiment

From driving a truck to the ivory tower

Why don't real people behave like people in the lab?

The dirty rotten truth about altruism

Scarecrows work on people too

Kitty Genovese revisited.

The Fix is in-and It's Cheap and Simple

p. 133

In which big, seemingly intractable problems are solved in surprising ways.